Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Time to Play the Game: WWE '13 Review

Can you smell it, brother?! Chris is back with another wrestling review, this time for WWE '13.

Last year, the WWE series underwent a significant overhaul.
What was formerly the SmackDown! Series, dating all the way back to the PSone,
was rebranded as WWE ’12. Along with the name change, fairly major changes were
also made to the gameplay systems and overall presentation. While WWE ’12 was
certainly a step in the right direction, it still suffered from some nagging
problems, not to mention a downright broken online system. Now, THQ hopes to
put all those stumbling blocks behind them as they release WWE ’13.

3 versions of Triple H! Happy day!

Developed by Japanese developer Yuke’s for all these years,
WWE ’13 is mostly a simulation style representation of the wild world of pro
wrestling, far more grounded in reality than games like WWE All-Stars.
Featuring all the stars you’d expect from a WWE game, WWE ’13 also positions
itself as a vehicle for nostalgic twentysomethings to relive the glory days of
the Attitude era. The roster is split in two, with nearly as many Superstars of
the past as there are current wrestlers. This serves well to nostalgic fans of
yesteryear, but also shows just how bland some of the current WWE Superstars
are. In what world do Bret Hart and Jinder Mahal belong in the same game?

Replacing the Road to Wrestlemania mode that has been
present in the past few WWE games, WWE ’13 offers players the chance to relive
the WWE as it was from 1996-2000 via the Attitude Era story mode. This is
really where the real meat of the game lies, and it is a massive improvement
over the stiffly-acted, oddly paced story modes of games before. Featuring
video packages produced by the WWE, the Attitude Era mode serves as a history
lesson for younger gamers, as well as a rose-tinted version of what us old
folks used to love about wrestling. It’s easy to forget that while guys like
The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin were kicking ass, there was also chumps
like the Headbangers and Meat stinking up Monday nights. Fortunately, WWE ’13
only features the best of the best.

The wealth of classic wrestlers available does come at a
price though. Today’s stars like C.M. Punk and John Cena are readily available
for body scanning, and as such, their character models look great.
Unfortunately, it’s not really possible for Shawn Michaels circa 1997 to be
accurately scanned, so many of the Attitude era guys stand out as being far
more cartoony and rubber-faced than their modern counterparts. This isn’t
really that big a deal when all participants in a match are from the same time
period, but mixing the rosters throws the graphical disparity into stark relief.

Once into a match, WWE ’13 plays a LOT like WWE ’12. So much
so, that sometimes, well often, it feels like the same game. Little touches
have been added, such as reversal indicators letting the player know if their
button presses are timed well or not. Irish whips have been re-tooled to allow
wrestlers to be thrown out of the ring more easily, and it works rather well.
It’s fairly easy to get a hang of the grappling system, although higher
difficulty settings tend to rely on reversals to an irritating degree. Last
year’s “Predator technology” is still present, allowing signature moves to
easily be chained into finishers.

New OMG! moments look cool, have lame name.

Commentary in WWE ‘13 is also more of the same. Michael Cole
and Jerry Lawler call the action, and it’s about as cut-and-paste as you’d
expect. The Attitude Era mode mercifully includes commentary from Jim Ross,
sometimes taken right from the original broadcasts. A nice touch is the
addition of guest commentators in this mode, and it seems as though guys like
Stone Cold even recorded new lines for their commentary. It’s still jarring to
hear the “f” censored whenever someone says WWF, though.

One very welcome change to the audio is audience levels.
Last year, crowds were nearly always dead silent, and it made the matches feel
flat and unexciting. In WWE ’13, crowd noise has been amped way up, sometimes
to the point of drowning out the commentary. It’s all adjustable with sliders,
so if it bothers you, you can always turn crowd noise down, or commentary off,
or whatever. Go crazy.

Newer additions to the WWE Universe, such as fan favorites
like Ryback and Damien Sandow, are promised as DLC, making this year’s roster
incredibly up to date. From all accounts, the online server woes that plagued
last year’s game have been alleviated, so player-created wrestlers are also
easily downloaded as well. So if you’re really into a wrestler who was left off
the rosters, like, say, I dunno, RAZOR RAMON, someone out there is sure to have
created a near-perfect likeness of The Bad Guy.

Which reminds me: PUT RAZOR RAMON IN THE GAME, THQ.

DO IT!

Other than that one gripe, WWE ’13 is a big step forward for
the series. The inclusion of the Attitude Era mode is sure to pull in some fans
who may have skipped the past few games, and the game is strong enough to possibly
get a lot them to stick around. Aside from a few odd glitches, such as the
wrong loading screen popping up, or arenas suddenly changing in cutscenes, WWE
’13 is, finally, a truly solid game. If you didn’t pick up last year’s game, or
if you were a huge fan of the Attitude Era, WWE ’13 has a lot to offer. How THQ
and Yuke’s follow this up, though, is going to be really interesting.

FINAL VERDICT: 4/5

Can you smell what Christopher Linendoll is cookin? He can be reached via Twitter, or found in the hummus section of your local grocery store.